A Gay Old Time at the Movies: Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Beyond

I was sitting at the bar of the Yarrow Hotel at Sundance, escaping, like many do, the inside of theaters and warming up with some sustenance of the alcoholic variety. The most low-key and unassuming spots always turn out to be where you meet the film industry power players, and this night it was a well-known distributor who was boozing alongside me. We ended up comparing notes about the festival's film selections.

I mentioned a queer film I really enjoyed called Keep the Lights On, a wonderful exploration of a relationship that came unhinged at the hands of meth addiction. My fellow imbiber heatedly agreed before adding, "And that's great, 'cause gay films usually really suck." I chose to not take the unintentional bait that was set up for me, but found myself half-nodding in agreement.

Gay films can really be bad. Not just run-of-the-mill bad or "got lost along the way" bad, but the kind of train wrecks where you hope there are no survivors, because life after that would probably be too impossible to bear. A former colleague of mine would describe this problem as "My girlfriend gave me a camera for Christmas, so I should make a movie" syndrome.

These aren't so-good-it's-bad films -- I am a big fan of schlock cinema,

but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking bad ideas

that are badly made. Much like celebrities running amok without anyone

with the chutzpah to pull them aside and say, "What the fuck are you

doing," many queer filmmakers are working without a net or anyone to

tell them, "No, actually that's not a good idea." Maybe it's because fewer established filmmakers are willing to take a chance on a gay film. Maybe it's something else. Either way, guidance is tantamount

to success. So what inevitably happens is that each year there's a sea

of guidance-less cinematic shit, and among them a few treasures that are

floating along waiting to be saved.

That's where film festivals

come in. They rescue the good ones, and drag along some of the mediocre

ones for the ride. Whether they have a life going forward is up to the